Author: Jamie Bsales
In 2008, sales of laptop PCs outpaced sales of desktops for the first time, according to a report by market intelligence firm iSuppli. At least part of the credit for that growth belongs to a new class of portable that emerged during the year: netbooks.
These diminutive machines are notebooks writ small. They pack a usable screen, keyboard and requisite Ethernet and Wi-Fi connectivity into three-pound packages you can slip into a bag and take with you everywhere. But unlike ultraportable-class laptops, netbooks dont have all the features or performance of a full-scale laptop. Whereas a 3-pound ultraportable typically runs $1,500 to $2,000miniaturization costs, after allnetbooks typically cost less than $500.
The ASUS Eee PC 1002HA has the sophisticated look of a high-end ultraportable laptop in an affordable package.
Firstgeneration netbooks had limited appeal. Since the keyboard can only be as wide as the screen, the original eight-inch displays meant that the keyboards were equally cramped.
The limited screen real estate and resolution also meant you would have to scroll both horizontally and vertically to see a Web page or document, which quickly gets bothersome.
But the big stumbling block for mainstream buyers was the operating system. To keep prices and hardware requirements to a minimum, early machines used variants of Linux, not the more familiar Windows.
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